"Don't you ever laugh as the hearse goes by," Crimson X's eyes widened. "For you may be the next to die."

Her widened eyes slowly traveled down to a sharp pain in her leg. A glowing liquid flowed through a needle that was injected into her. A rather crazed laugh sounded and she turned around completely. A scarecrow met her face, spiders crawling all around it. She shrieked and fell backwards.

"They wrap you up in a big white sheet, from your head down to your feet," the scarecrow spoke as he took some foot steps towards her.

With every step he took she crawled backwards, until she hit something. Her head shot up. Sweat trickled down her face at the sight before her. There stood Edward Nigma. Blood streamed down his face. His eyes bulged and were rolled backwards. He was dead.

"No!" Crimson X yelled and stood up. She looked behind her seeing the scarecrow creeping closer to her.

"They put you in a big black box and cover you up with dirt and rocks."

"Stop it!" She wailed and fell to her knees. The ground turned wet, but warm. She looked up, "No…Trance!" Quickly she crawled towards a body, "D-don't leave me! You can't!" Tears rolled down her face.

"All goes well for about a week," A voice whispered in her ear, "Then your coffin begins to leak."

Crimson X shivered as she felt something on her. Slowly, she looked down and burst out into sobs. She stood up and started to shake. Thousands of spiders were climbing their way up her body. Their grotesque legs hooked into her skin every time they inched upward. Blood started to flow from where the spider walked. Then, more and more spiders began to crawl out of the blood. The infested her and began to crawl into her open mouth.

"The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out!" The voice got louder. "The worms play pinochle on your snout!" Gloved hands, with sharp needles at the end held her close to his body. "They eat your eyes, they eat your nose, they eat the jelly between your toes."

Crimson X flung her body from side to side, but was held by the scarecrow. Her eyes were stinging, her nose was rotting. Her flesh was being torn away as the spiders gnawed away.

"A big green worm with rolling eyes crawls in your stomach and out your eyes!" The scarecrow laughed. "Your stomach turns a slimy green, and pus pours out like whipping cream."

"Stop it!"

"You spread it on a slice of bread, and that's what you eat when you are dead."

Darkness, there was just darkness. No sound, sight, smell, nothing.

-Time Skip-

"Nngh," Crimson X opened her eyes, though everything around her was dark. "Is it my right eye that's going blind, too?" She tried to lift a hand to feel what was in front of her eyes, but they were restrained. "What the hell!"

"Right eye, too?" An arrogant voice sounded.

"Nigma!" Crimson X growled. "What did you do? Where are my parents?"

"Oh, they're safe," he paused. "At least I think. I, nor did Crane, do anything to them. We were going to take them, but you got in the way, so we just took you instead. Though, I'll have to find a different way to hide all of the trophies."

"Where am I?"

"I'm the one that asks the questions, my dear," she felt him put a finger up on her chin and forced her face up, assumingly so she could look at him. "Oh, and you are blindfolded, you aren't going blind."

Crimson X forced her face out of his grasp, "I am in one eye, Riddler."

"Oh, my bad," Sarcasm dripped from his voice. "Now, if you promise to be a good little vigilante I can take the blind fold off."

Crimson X sighed, "I've helped you with your trophies and I haven't reported your outings at night, Nigma. What makes you think I'll suddenly lash out?"

"Well, the fact that you tried to hit me with your wooden toy is enough reason to not trust you, Doctor Simpleton. Now, I'll remove the blind fold if you can answer my riddle. Riddle me this! If you eat us separately you'll die. If you drink us together you'll die. But if you eat us together, well," he chuckled slightly, "You'll still die if it's in excessive amounts, but you won't see the results until much, much later. What are we together?"

Crimson X closed her eyes thinking. What is that kills people if it's in excessive amounts that they eat? Sugar? No…Sugar water won't exactly kill a person. Fat? No…Salt? She paused. Salt water will make a person dehydrated, which would kill a person. What is it separately, though? Sodium…Sodium chlorine! Chlorine will kill a person, and sodium might. Thank goodness for chlorine.

"Salt, the answer is salt," She answered hesitantly.

"What! No! No this can't be!" He shouted through gritted teeth. "Yes, the answer is salt." He violently removed the blind fold. "There you go; congratulations." The Riddler lent forward so he was right in front of her face. His warm breath hit her face, "Just you wait. You won't be able to escape this place until you finish my puzzle room." He moved backwards and started to laugh, "We all know what will happen." He began to walk away, "You'll die, just like the rest of them."

With that he left the room. Once the door to the room slammed closed, a bright light illuminated the place. Crimson X flinched at the sudden invasion on her pupils. Once she was adjusted to the light she looked around and gulped. She was surrounded completely by water. The chair she was sitting on was at the edge of the room; behind her was a door that the Riddler went through.

A screen lit up with the Riddler's face his voice echoed, much like the way it did in her office. "Let's see if you can even get out of the chair." He smirked and watched her through is glasses that half glared from whatever light was in the room he was located in.

Crimson X looked around for something sharp. The only thing that would actually hook was a door knob. Know that it'd be near impossible to escape using the door knob she looked down at the chair. Her hands were the only thing tied to it. She'd have to dislocate her arms in order to get free. She gulped, having dislocated bones were not fun, but it wasn't as painful as most people think. At least with what she's had dislocated.

X stood up awkwardly from her chair. She took a deep breath. With great force she slammed her arms upwards. A scream escaped her lips as she felt one of her arms fall out of its socket. This was definitely more painful than what she's experienced. Quickly, she was freed from the chair, but not the bindings. Her right hand, which wasn't part of the dislocated arm, quickly began to work at the knots. She stuck her tongue out as she tried to figure it out. Her right arm was freed, which would have to be good for now. She moved it to her left shoulder and felt around. Her bone was in front of her shoulder, she'd have to pop it back in if she wanted to survive.

She took some rope and gagged herself, that way there wouldn't be a chance of biting her tongue off. Mentally, she hoped her little medical training she had when becoming a psychiatrist would come in handy. She breathed through her nose before snapping it back in place. Her eyes widened from a moment of pain, but it quickly went away. She sighed in relief and moved her left arm a little.

"Much better."

"It appears I underestimated you," The Riddler glared down at Crimson X who just shook her head and looked out across the water. "Let's see if you can figure this one out."

Crimson X took a few steps forward. She squinted her eyes as a shadow spurred across the water. Her head tilted and peered closer to the water. Whatever it was getting closer and much, much bigger.

"Shit!" She cussed and leapt out of the way as a mouth, filled with razor sharp teeth jumped out of the water. "Where the heck did you get a Great White!" She yelled at the Riddler who was simply smirking.

"So you identified it correctly? What gave it away? The fact that it's huge and it leapt out of the water? You must be a genius," he rolled his eyes.

Crimson X growled, "Just tell me where I need to go, Riddler!"

"You need to get out of this room! Surely even a—"

"Even an infant could figure that out," She cut him off. "I've heard it before. I'll just go out the door you walked out of." She turned around and grabbed the door knob. "Damn it!" She shook her hand as an electric jolt ran through her. "Looks like I'll have to turn off the power." A sarcastic clap sounded.

Rolling her eyes at the Riddler's behavior, Shar traced the wires that ran along the room and noticed it went across the water. She cussed under her breath and looked around for something that would float. She didn't exactly plan on swimming across with the shark in the water that seemed to attack anything. She froze. That wasn't typical shark behavior; they usually don't go after people.

"Riddler, is this actually a shark?" She looked up at the screen. "Or are you starving it?" She glared at him.

Riddler shrugged, "It's not actually my shark, who knows what Penguin does with it."

Crimson X spat in disgust, but none the less found a floating raft thing that would get across the water, and was big enough so she wouldn't be killed by the shark; or whatever it was. She grabbed the chair and rope the bound her and made her way onto the raft. She glanced around, looking for any signs of the shark, there were none.

Crimson X bit her lip, and carefully put the chair in the water and started to awkwardly paddle to where the wire was. Her eyes kept an eye on a dorsal fin that rose out of the water and began to circle the raft. Not good; that's sign that a shark's about to attack. Suddenly, it sped towards her and leapt out of the water. Crimson X fell backwards from the sudden impact. She looked up, water rolling down her face. The shark was half way onto the raft. She grabbed the chair and swung it against the shark. A sharp clang sounded as the chair splintered into many pieces.

She smirked at realization that it was simply a robot. Though, her smirk faded as the robot flung itself off the raft and kept running into raft. Crimson X fell down and had to try to keep her balance. A scream escaped her lips as the raft started to tip one way; common behavior for killer whales knocking a seal or penguin off an iceberg. One hand clenched onto the side of the raft that was quickly approaching a 90 degree angle with the water, while the other held onto a splintered piece of wood that had a sharp tip.

Crimson X glanced at the wire that was loosely hanging on the ceiling. She bit her lip and chucked the piece of wood at the wire. It split, sparks flew everywhere through the current. She grinned as the wire hit the water. At that moment, she swung her body against the raft, making it fall back down with her on it. Electricity flew across the water. It caused the sound of a mechanical machine failing exploded from underneath the water. Crimson X quickly crawled to the middle of the raft, hoping to avoid being electrocuted herself.

Then, there was silence. She looked at wires that led to a control panel. It was most definitely busted. Electric sparks in the water soon faded and the mechanical shark's shadow grew smaller and smaller as it sunk to the bottom. She grinned and leapt into the water, seeing as her paddle was no longer suitable. She swam to the edge and pulled herself back up, water dripping from.

"You cheated!" The Riddler shouted furiously at her. "That's not fair!"

"Being resourceful is not cheating, Mister Nigma," Crimson X placed a hand on the door knob and pulled the door open. "It's being smart."

Footsteps sounded as Crimson X stepped into the room and was eventually met by an infuriated Riddler. His breathing rate, and assumingly hear rate, were almost at its maximum. His hands clenched onto his cane tightly that the visible knuckles – that weren't hidden by his gloves – were an obvious white. A vein popped out of his forehead. If it were possible, steam would be jutting out of his ears and he would be breathing fire.

"You weren't supposed to get past that room, but you did!" He yelled at her as he stepped closer. "You weren't supposed to be able to solve any my riddles, but you still do! You were supposed to be just like the other psychiatrists at that damn asylum, but you're not! You're supposed to be an idiot, but you're not!" By now he was a mere few inches from Crimson X as she calmly watched him. "Why aren't you an idiot!"

"Because I'm not like most people," She growled through clenched teeth. "I refuse to conform to what everyone else tells me to be! I'm not some mindless moron in this corrupt world. If I did my brother would never forgive me!"

"And why is that?" Riddler moved closer a smirk growing on his face even closer.

"Because he was killed standing up for the right thing," her eyes burned with a fire. "He died protecting me."

The Riddler froze. He was left speechless, a feat that is hard to accomplish. He watched the girl as her face was stern and her eyes could destroy even the coldest and most ruthless person. The Riddler took off his hat and stroked his hair back before putting it back on. Millions of thoughts ran through his brain. He wasn't sure what to say to this girl. He may be a villain, but he isn't exactly heartless.

"I see," he leaned in closer to the girl. His lips hovering just over hers, "Then keep doing that." He turned around and walked away, a hand gestured for Crimson X to follow him.

She blinked a couple of times before running to catch up with him. Her head hung down as she watched her footsteps and made sure she wouldn't trip over anything. Though, she had no need to worry. It seemed that Mister Nigma was a bit of a neat freak.

"You'll be staying in this room," he opened a rather dull looking room. Obviously, it hasn't been decorated. To tell the truth, Crimson X was rather shocked that there weren't any question marks. She supposed that the place did need to look semi normal if the police were to raid it. "You'll only leave when I tell you to."

"Why did you even kidnap me in the first place, Riddler?" Crimson X rubbed the space between her eyes.

The Riddler clenched his teeth tightly, "I'm the one who asks the questions!"

"Then, I'll ask you in the form of an answer," Crimson X smirked. "The reason why the Riddler kidnapped me is…"

She paused waiting for him to answer. Though, she was only forcefully shoved into her room. A click on the door indicated that she was locked in her room. Huffing a breath of irritation she walked around the room and opened the wardrobe. Her palm hit her forehead with such force that it left a red handprint.

"Of course he'd leave these clothes in here," she took out green woman's suit with green question marks. "What shocks me is that he knew my size." A shutter escaped her wondering just how far his bugging went.

-Else Where-

He sat at his desk as papers upon papers were filled with various riddles. Though, he was not currently staining the white sheets with ink at the moment. His glasses were off on the desk and his head was in his hands.

"How is it that red and green go along so well?" He questioned himself. "Because they're complementary." Leaning back in his chair he sighed, "An obvious riddle, too obvious."

"Edward," A person sounded in the door way to his office. The Riddler turned around and glanced at the man with icy blue eyes.

"What is it Jonathan?"

"It's risky keeping her here. You do know that, don't you?" the person who used to be a reputable doctor kept an emotionless look on his face, though his eyes betrayed him as they were ablaze with some furry. "You can't let this get in the way of our operation."

"There isn't any operation, Jonathan," Edward put his glasses back on. "As far as I'm concerned Joker will take over the Asylum, you'll infuse your fear toxin into the Dark Knight, and then I'll test him with my riddles. What I'm wondering is why you're not at the asylum right now. Don't you have to stock your little hidden room?"

"It's already done," Jonathan looked down at his wristwatch. "Well, I suppose you're right, Joker will be back any time now. Keep the radio going and notify me when he's brought to the asylum." Something flashed across Jonathan's icy eyes; pleasure, excitement or something of that sort. "I have a little surprise for the bat."

Jonathan left the building, with Riddler left to indulge in his own thoughts and Crimson X to plan her escape.

-Elsewhere-

"You got me, Bats!" The sociopath, or whatever doctors have claimed him to be, raised his hands. "Arrest me and bring me back to the crazy place!" He laughed to himself.

This is too easy; with The Joker nothing's this easy.